Amazing video of injured dolphin seeking help from scuba divers

This video of a dolphin in need is really something on so many levels.

It turns out that the dolphin had fishing line and a hook stuck on one of its fins, so it approached a group of divers who were watching manta rays at night near Kona, Hawaii. Fortunately one of the professional divers was able to help remove some of the fishing line that was restricting the movement of the dolphin, though in the end they were unable to remove the hook.

There are plenty of warnings at the beginning (the divers are professional so don’t try this at home), followed by the dolphin swimming around the group, with the untangling action starting around the 3:30 mark.

You won’t believe how calm and trusting the dolphin is with the diver, who patiently cuts away the line.

Chris in Paris
An American in Paris, France. BA in History & Political Science from Ohio State. Provided consulting services to US software startups, launching new business overseas that have both IPO’d and sold to well-known global software companies. Currently launching a new cloud-based startup. Full bio here.

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Honestly, I think the biggest difference between dolphins and humans has less to do with their brains and more to do with our opposable thumbs. Dolphins are incredibly smart, to the point where it will take years or decades, if ever, for us to truly understand their level of intelligence. There’s a reason bottle-nosed dolphins pretty much rule the seas….

You are more right than you realize that dolphins can “read body langauge”. Years ago I read the book, “Dolphins (The Undersea discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau). It is filled with many amazing stories about these wonderful creatures. The book documents the animals phenomenal ability to use it’s sonar to scan other creatures like an MRI. So, in effect, the dolphin in this video was able to scan the divers heart and vital organs and see that he was calm, empathic, and not a threat. BTW, Cousteau also proved that dolphins use their sonar in highly concentrated bursts to stun or even kill other creatures.

Houndentenor

I’m not sure how we would accurately test the relative intelligence between two species, but it doesn’t take much observation to see that they are highly intelligent.

Great footage , I have done the Manta night dive in Kona and met one of the guys there. who helped the dolphin . you usually hear the dolphins feeding in the deep or see them on the surface , but its unusual to see one in amongst the Mantas and divers . I guess it new the divers could help , by removing the fishing line . Just on another matter , I dive a lot around the Pacific and rarely come across game or big game fishing on my diving trips and not being a North American I guess , i was surprised to see so many big game fishing excursions going out and coming into the harbour in Kona . If the cut down on that , or got rid of it ! you would get less dolphins ,Mantas ( which also get tangled ) and cut out the debris in the ocean and off the coast of Hawaii .

I’m a rational person… but it would be difficult to hold my breath, swim over and lift my underarm to a knife-wielding *stranger* no matter what the circumstances. Dolphins are probably better at reading body language than we are: not just the overt hand signs, but the general aura of concern and compassion and desire to help. He chose good people to help untangle him.

I love how the dolphin responds to the diver’s “come closer” hand gestures so he can keep working on removing the line and hook. I don’t know what the science says, but I believe the intelligence of these animals is easily on par with humans.

Dano2

I was in Florida in early December and I saw what I thought was a swimmer far out in the Gulf. As it came closer we could see it was a dolphin in distress. Someone went back into their house and got some bolt cutters and waded out, cut the dolphin free, and it swam back out to sea. It was nice and we all clapped.

Best,

D

Zorba

So what’s got your panties all in a twist?

AuntInAZ

It’s hardly ‘nothing’ for a dolphin to approach a group of humans in this manner. And yes, it IS a big deal, in my opinion.

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